Help! Need an easier way to do WC's

[Stacey W.]

I have a 55 gallon column style tank downstairs and 1 bathroom which is upstairs. I use a 5 gallon bucket to drain an 5, 2 gallon buckets to fill my tank after draining. I also have a sliding glass door approximately 20 feet in front of my tank. What's a cheap easy way to siphon my tank and have the water piped out through the sliding glass door?

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[ywagner]

Ya idk how u are surviving doing 5 gallons at a time. I would definitely try to siphon the water outside or maybe to a Sewage drain?

As for filling the tank, go to your local hardware store and buy tubing to fit the length, and also from lfs a cleaning kit that has gravel vac and the attachment to sink.


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[Stacey W.]

Ya idk how u are surviving doing 5 gallons at a time. I would definitely try to siphon the water outside or maybe to a Sewage drain?

As for filling the tank, go to your local hardware store and buy tubing to fit the length, and also from lfs a cleaning kit that has gravel vac and the attachment to sink.


Sent from my fish tank

I really don't want fish water in my kitchen sink. I know I sound wimpy but that's gross. I really just need to divise a way to easily siphon with my vacuum I have because I can deal the filly of the tank with the 2 gallon buckets. How can I make a extension to my vaccum that has enough umph to draw the water outside?

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[ywagner]

Well if the tank is raised there will be enough umph as long as you start it. How do you refill the water


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[Stacey W.]

The tank is raised and my vaccum starts to siphon by a pumping motion. I fill my tank using 5, 2 gallon buckets with conditioner in the bathtub upstairs. We have tried connecting tubing to fit my vaccum but it won't start siphoning with the type of vaccum I have.

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[MacabreGoblin]

Have you tried a Python? My tank is downstairs and I too have to use an upstairs bathroom to drain/fill my tank. You would have to use your sink rather than your tub, but I've found it's such a relieving alternative to the old gravity-vacuum-and-bucket method. Mine is 50ft long but I think they come in 70 or 75 ft too, if your bathroom is farther from your tank than mine is.

 

[Stacey W.]

I simply want to run my dirty water directly out of my tank to the outside.

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[Dallascowboys16]

Get a strong aquarium utility pump and some 3/4 inch inner diameter hosing and run it out your door, will work great. I also have a 55 gallon and I do 5 gallon buckets up and down the stars to outside to fill up from the spigot because I have a water softener on my indoor tap water so not good for my planted tanks. I honestly get along just fine doing 30- 50% changes weekly.

 

[Stacey W.]

Thanks Dallascowboys 16! Can I hook this up to just a simple vacuum.

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[Dallascowboys16]

Thanks Dallascowboys 16! Can I hook this up to just a simple vacuum.

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no, you don't use a vacuum with it, you just hold it in the tank to pump water. you can get an iline pump if you would like to incorporate a vacuum into the system.

 

[Stacey W.]

Ok, I figured. That's exactly what I need. In the meantime I'm getting good exercise. Good thing I have the strength since I've been a veterinarian technician for 13 years!

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[mom2reds]

I use a python vacuum with a 50 ft tubing and I hook it up to my water hose outside to drain water out of my tank, that way I water my grass or my flower beds.

 

[jkdubs2]

Cheap way would be to buy a hose long enough for the distance and buy 2 fittings. One that connects the hose to the shower or sink faucet to refil the tank and a separate one that connects the hose to the vacuum. Or you could cut the end of the hose that you don't need for connecting to the faucet and use a hose clamp to connect it to the gravel vac. Either way it's cheap and easier. I connect mine to a shower head and get the temp right and then start the flow to the tank.

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[jetajockey]

50ft neverkink drinking water hose from home depot + waterbed fill/drain kit from ebay.

 

[54seaweed]

Can I hook this up to just a simple vacuum.

only if it's a wet dry vac but to empty that is just as bad as the 5g buckets

 

[Stacey W.]

only if it's a wet dry vac but to empty that is just as bad as the 5g buckets

Sorry to confuse you I mean an aquarium gravel vacuum. My front door is pretty close to my tank. It just takes forever .

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[friscuba]

I'd just invest in a longer hose. You might have to prime the hose, if your existing hose has a pump you're starting the siphon with you'd just want to fill the hose from the outside end to the one way valve in the pump (assuming you've got what I think you have). A siphon is a siphon, the hose could be a mile long as long as the far end is below the water level in the tank, just getting it started might be tough. I once siphoned my tanks with a 100 foot hose, that was tough to get started... I swallowed a mouth or two of saltwater accidently that time.


The utility pump and a longer hose mentioned earlier is probably the easiest way

 

[Ryan87500]

What I have been doing with my Python is I have the water bed adapter in my sewage drain (make sure you have the bottom drain connector open) and I suck on the end that goes to the sink. Doesn't take much to get the water flowing. That way I don't have my mouth on something that had fish water in it.

Once done draining I hook it up to a sink to fill.

I find faster suction with gravity for draining then using the sink plus saves water.


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